Super User Tuckahoe Joe Posted October 24, 2012 Super User Posted October 24, 2012 Went out this morning before work. Not much luck for the first hour or so and then got 2 nice size bass and a pickerel in about 30 min. Caught them on a Rapala Shad Rap. There were 2 other guys there fishing plastic worms who weren't catching anything. The one guy tied on a crank, got it snagged shortly after and went back to worms. They looked kind of jealous. I try not to take pleasure in other peoples failures but it was nice for me to be the cool guy catching fish for a change. Usually its the other way around. Nice little boost of confidence for me. Made me feel like I was doing something right. If I didn't have to go to work, I probably would have caught a few more. They really started biting right around when I had to leave. I was able to take one picture before the batteries in my camera died. The 2nd one was bigger and I took a pic with my phone but I lost the usb cable for it. Quote
Shewillbemine Posted October 24, 2012 Posted October 24, 2012 My current favorite lure. Nice fish! Quote
Super User MCS Posted October 24, 2012 Super User Posted October 24, 2012 Nice catches, lake looks awesome in the background. I know what you mean I had to go to work the other right when the bite was getting good. SUCKS! Quote
sprirobass Posted October 25, 2012 Posted October 25, 2012 Nice fish! My shad rap landed several quality bass before I lost it to a tree. Gotta get one of those again. Quote
kristen1985 Posted October 26, 2012 Posted October 26, 2012 I got this lure at the local tackle shop because some said that I needed some sort of crankbait in my tackle box. It runs from 5 to 15 foot deep, and many said it works best in the fall. Does this thing work in the summer, too? I heard that if you fish deep rocks with a crankbait, you're guaranteed to get some strikes. How do you fish this thing? All answers, except irrelevant ones, will be appreciated. Quote
Super User Tuckahoe Joe Posted October 26, 2012 Author Super User Posted October 26, 2012 Thanks guys. Kristen, Fish it just like the name 'crankbait' implies. You crank it. Cast it out and 'crank' it in. The faster you crank/the lower you hold your rod tip, the deeper it will dive. Fish it along the edge of grass lines or cast towards brush piles, downed trees, beds of vegetation, or undercut banks/tree roots and fish it back to you. Bass are ambush predators so basically anywhere that a bass could hide. You can just burn it in as fast as you can, use a steady retrieve, or use a retrieve with short pauses/twitches. If you feel it pulling through submerged weeds, give it a good rip. Ripping it through the weeds may cause a reaction strike. I caught my first crankbait fish (not on a shad rap though) in a deep rocky reservoir at the end of the summer so yeah, that sounds accurate enough. But Ive noticed that as fall set in, the crankbait bite has definitly picked up. The majority of my fish this month have been on cranks. The fish I talked about in this post were all caught fishing from/casting parrallel to a dam in about 7 FOW. Ive heard that bass sometimes like to trap their prey up against something and this particualr outting seems to verify that. Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted October 26, 2012 Global Moderator Posted October 26, 2012 Shad raps are great baits in the fall as the water cools off and good anytime you need a more finesse style crankbait. Good looking fish! Quote
Super User scaleface Posted October 28, 2012 Super User Posted October 28, 2012 Shad Raps are great. I would fish them a lot more often if they were not so difficult to cast. Quote
Super User Tuckahoe Joe Posted October 28, 2012 Author Super User Posted October 28, 2012 Shad Raps are great. I would fish them a lot more often if they were not so difficult to cast. Thats true. They are pretty light-weight. Hard to get much distance with them. There was a good breeze blowing today with the storm on the way and even with the wind assist, I still wasn't casting very far. Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted October 28, 2012 Global Moderator Posted October 28, 2012 Shad Raps are great. I would fish them a lot more often if they were not so difficult to cast. Spinning gear is the way to go with #5 or #7 shad raps. They can be casted on casting gear but it's so much easier with spinning gear. I use a 6' 8" or 6' 10" ML/F spinning rod with either 6 or 8 pound test and get plenty of distance out of them with those set ups. Quote
Super User Tuckahoe Joe Posted October 29, 2012 Author Super User Posted October 29, 2012 Spinning gear is the way to go with #5 or #7 shad raps. They can be casted on casting gear but it's so much easier with spinning gear. I use a 6' 8" or 6' 10" ML/F spinning rod with either 6 or 8 pound test and get plenty of distance out of them with those set ups. Im kind of new and don't know much about rod physics. Im using spinning gear with 8lb line but the only rod I have is MH. Does the ML power make it that much easier to cast the light bait? Im guessing you get a little more of a whipping action with it. Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted October 29, 2012 Global Moderator Posted October 29, 2012 Im kind of new and don't know much about rod physics. Im using spinning gear with 8lb line but the only rod I have is MH. Does the ML power make it that much easier to cast the light bait? Im guessing you get a little more of a whipping action with it. Basically the ML is going to flex more an allow the rod to load better with that small bait and generate more energy to help with casting. I'm sure someone who is better with the actually physics of it can explain it better than that but that's a really watered down version of why it will cast them better. Quote
Super User Tuckahoe Joe Posted October 29, 2012 Author Super User Posted October 29, 2012 Gottcha. I gotta invest in a couple more rods when I get some extra cash. Quote
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